'Melo leads Knicks into south Philly

(Sports Network) - Carmelo Anthony has failed to score 20 or more points only
once this season and looks to lead the New York Knicks to victory once again
Saturday night against the Philadelphia 76ers at Wells Fargo Center.

Anthony has scored 20-plus points in 27 straight games and is averaging 31.3 ppg in his last 11. Anthony, who's played at least 40 minutes in five straight games, led the Knicks to an 89-86 victory at Boston Thursday with 28 points on 11-of-28 shooting. He also grabbed nine rebounds.

Thursday's game also marked the reunion with Celtics center Kevin Garnett. The
two got into a verbal spat on the floor back on Jan. 7 and Anthony was seen
waiting for Garnett by the Celtics team bus. Video footage showed the two
still exchanging words and having to be separated by a large throng of
security people.

The two claimed to have worked things out.

"There's no grudges between myself and (Garnett)," Anthony said. "Whatever
happened, happened. We spoke about that and it's over with. I don't hold
grudges or anything like that."

Amare Stoudemire added 15 points and nine rebounds off the bench, while Jason
Kidd and Iman Shumpert contributed with 12 and 10 points, respectively, for
New York, which has won three of four games and aims for its third straight
road win in south Philly. The Knicks are 12-8 away from home.

Following their tilt against the 76ers, the Knicks will head back to Madison
Square Garden for five straight games versus Atlanta, Orlando, Milwaukee,
Sacramento and Detroit.

The 76ers, who are in the thick of 12 of 13 games as the host, will begin an
eight-game homestand with the Knicks in town and are 11-10 at Wells Fargo
Center. Also scheduled to visit the City of Brotherly Love are the Grizzlies,
Wizards, Kings, Magic, Pacers, Bobcats and Clippers.

Philadelphia hasn't played eight in a row at home since March 26-April 11,
1986 and won't play on the road again until Feb. 13 at Milwaukee. The Bucks
handed the Sixers their most recent loss, a 110-102 setback Tuesday from the
Bradley Center.

Evan Turner had 23 points and seven assists, while Spencer Hawes added 21
points and 12 rebounds for the Sixers, who have dropped eight of 10 and 19 of
their last 26 games overall. Turner is averaging 20.5 points in his last two
contests.

"We're going through a rough time, everyone goes through them," said Sixers
guard Nick Young, who scored 20 points of the bench. "We have to rally
together. (Milwaukee) played as a team, they played the way we need to play."

Thaddeus Young had 11 points and nine rebounds in defeat and Jrue Holiday, who
was selected to his first All-Star game as a reserve, scored just nine points
on 3-of-12 shooting from the floor to go along with a game-high 12 assists.
Holiday is the youngest Sixer to make the All-Star team and is averaging team-
highs of 19.0 points and 9.0 assists.

The 76ers have been able to score the ball, but winning has been an issue.
Over the past five games, the Sixers are averaging 100.2 points after posting
just 87.3 ppg in the previous eight. They are 9-4 when hitting 100 points this
season and only 3-17 when scoring less than 90.

Holiday is posting averages of 20.1 points, 9.4 assists and 4.5 rebounds in
his last 14 games. In injury news for Philadelphia, veteran guard Jason
Richardson is expected to miss Saturday's game with fluid in his left knee.

Philadelphia was swept convincingly by New York in a home-and-home series back
in early November (4-5) and the two teams will meet again Feb. 24 at MSG. The
Knicks have won nine of the past 12 meetings with the 76ers, who have still
prevailed in 10 of the last 15 meetings as the host in this series.